JUNE 2023
June 5th, 2023:
One day when I was 15 years old, I picked up a newspaper on my father’s desk and turned to the sports section. My eyes were immediately drawn to this photo of one of my childhood heroes, the famous San Francisco football quarterback, Y.A. Tittle. In his final season, Tittle was photographed bloodied and kneeling in the end zone after a tackle by a defender that left him without a helmet. There was something in the photo that inspired me, but I couldn’t understand what it was.
My father came up behind me. “He’s going to retire,” he said. “He’s sacrificed everything for a higher cause: his team, his league, his love of football.”
I stared long and hard at the photo. I was just a kid, but the photo made a deep impression on me.
“I’d like to sacrifice for something greater like Y.A. Tittle did,” I said to my father. “But I don’t know what.”
”Perhaps someday you will, son,” my father said. “Maybe you’ll be inspired to join the Armed Forces, the Red Cross or the Peace Corps. Time will tell.”
And in time I did find the most worthy cause to give my life to: the mission of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He himself sacrificed everything to spread Krsna consciousness, the panacea for all problems.
That photograph of Y.A. Tittle went on to be one of the most iconic images in North American sports history. I keep a framed copy of the photo on my desk next to my computer wherever I go. When I look at it, I feel as inspired by Y.A. Tittle as the first time I saw it. Only now I know to direct that mood of sacrifice to my spiritual master, to whom I am eternally indebted. Srila Prabhupada’s photo graces my personal alter and I bow down to him three times a day.
